Part IX — Professor Shawn Wong
PCG 11. Department of English, Director, Creative Writing Programme, University of Washington, Seattle, WAProfessor Shawn Wong: I often tell my students that acquiring knowledge and learning are about belief. It is from belief that one's passion about one's own education springs. How can a student better understand where knowledge comes from? Is God the Source of this deeper knowledge?
Sri Chinmoy: My esteemed Professor, please allow me to use four words to come to my rescue: belief, faith, knowledge and wisdom.Belief and knowledge are on one side. They are with the mind, in the mind and for the mind. Faith and wisdom are on the other side. They are with the heart, in the heart and are not only for the heart but also for the body, vital and mind. These four concepts are not supposed to enjoy rivalry and contradictions. They are supposed to sing the song of oneness in their ultimate reality. The outer education — belief and knowledge — feeds the mind, and vice versa. The inner education — faith and wisdom — feeds the heart, and vice versa. The outer education can be challenged, contradicted and even replaced. The inner education, which is sleepless and breathless oneness with God's Will, can never be challenged, contradicted or replaced. The outer education at times searches for God, at times does not. The inner education embodies and reveals God spontaneously, unreservedly and self-givingly.
Again, belief, knowledge, faith and wisdom have the selfsame Source: God the Illumination-Eye and God the Compassion-Heart.
